There is a substantial need for high-speed, non-invasive methods of analyzing or screening persons and other objects for the presence of foreign or native materials. Foreign materials include but are not limited to—
Explosives and their precursors and intermediaries
Chemicals and their precursors and intermediaries
Pharmaceuticals and their precursors and intermediaries
Chemical and Biological Weapons and their precursors and intermediaries
Bacterial, Viral and other life-forms
Intended native materials include that may have been intermixed with foreign material but are not limited to—
Pharmaceuticals and their precursors and intermediaries
Chemicals and their precursors and intermediaries
Foods and Food Products and their precursors and intermediaries There have been a number of attempts to produce analysis and screening techniques that addresses the foregoing requirement with respect to analyzing objects for the presence of foreign material, but for one reason or another, such attempts have all been inadequate. Examples include backscatter X-ray, neutron activation, mass spectroscopy (several varieties), and mmWave Imaging. These techniques either use ionizing radiation, rely on detection of vapors, or use intrusive imaging techniques that, while capable of “seeing” through clothes, are still severely limited and susceptible of providing false positive or false negative results.
Prior art in mmWave technology has consisted of imaging systems, which have been somewhat controversial. The controversy arises because the operator of the system is given the ability to “see through” peoples' clothes to determine if there is anything hidden. Many people find these devices to be highly invasive of their privacy. Additionally, their limited ability to discern various types of explosives or contraband is a serious drawback.
Another area of interest is the detection of airborne contagious diseases. One of the biggest threats faced by a society with extensive global travel enabled by large capacity jet airplanes is the susceptibility to airborne diseases. An air traveler on a trip with two or more connecting flights can expose a potentially huge number of people to a contagious disease, thus making the source of the disease extremely difficult to trace while simultaneously risking an epidemic spread of the disease. Obviously, air travelers on a direct flight with a contagious disease still pose a significant risk, since many passengers would still be exposed to the disease before and during the flight, and then those exposed passengers would expose other persons during their ensuing contagious incubation period.
Spectroscopy has many advantages as an analytical and screening technique, but as typically practiced suffers from being a slow process due to acquiring data in a serial manner. It would be desirable to have a spectroscopic method and system capable of near real-time operation for screening purposes such as those described above. There are many applications for such a system for detecting foreign materials on, or in, an object. Examples of materials foreign to an object are explosives or components of explosives, contraband, chemical and biological weapons, pharmaceuticals, contaminants in food being processed, contaminants in legitimate chemical products, and materials associated with disease in humans and animals.